


A Cracking Good Time

by gingergallifreyan



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Humor, Post-Episode: s04e13 Journey's End, Tiny bit of Angst, bedsharing with a twist, blood from a nosebleed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-09
Updated: 2018-12-09
Packaged: 2019-09-15 03:25:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16925595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gingergallifreyan/pseuds/gingergallifreyan
Summary: Jackie, the Doctor, and Rose make it to a bed and breakfast just as a storm is rolling in off Bad Wolf Bay. But! There's only one bed.





	A Cracking Good Time

**Author's Note:**

> For 2018 31 Days of Ficmas, Day 5: Shiver.
> 
> So yesterday, I pushed goingtothetardis to write something, and then I had an idea based on a fic of hers, and she pushed me back.

_There he was, on the beach again, his other self trying desperately to get Rose to see why this needed to happen, why he needed to leave her. His heart—his one human heart—twisted with guilt. He hated watching how this was breaking her. Even more, he hated how she tore herself away from him at the groaning of the dematerializing TARDIS._

_There was a thought. His one friend and constant companion through everything, gone forever._

_Rose stood still as a statue. She was his one friend now. He approached her slowly and took her hand. The look on her face was hard to interpret. “Are you… alright? I don’t know what to say.”_

_“No, I’m not alright." She tore her hand from his. "This is bloody stupid, and I can’t believe he had the nerve to send me away again.”_

_He hung his head. “Did you mean that, when you said I’m not him? Do you not think of me as the Doctor?”_

_“This happened too fast to process. One moment he was regenerating, and then next you popped out of the TARDIS and tried something absolutely stupid—” She pushed on his chest. “What were you thinking, running out there like that with one heart? Davros could have killed you! Have you got a death wish this time around?”_

_Born in battle and revenge and all that. Just like when he’d first met her. “He didn’t, and I’m fine. I was trying to save you lot, thanks.”_

_“And no, I’m not happy. We have a lot to sort because of this.”_

_“I’m sorry, Rose. I know it’s not what you wanted.”_

_“No, it’s not. I worked so hard to get back to you, and now you’ve left me.” She blinked back tears, and his heart twisted again at the sight her trying to be so strong. “But… but you’re here.”_

_“I am, and I’m never gonna leave you, Rose.” Tears pricked his eyes. Gods, he ached to kiss her again. His wish was granted when she threw her arms around his neck and pressed her lips to his again, hungry, desperate this time.  
_

_“Oi!” Jackie’s shrill voice pierced through their revelry. Rose didn’t break their contact entirely, though, he mused. “Sorry, but we'd best get a shift on. Looks like there’s a storm coming in off the sea. There’s a bed and breakfast not too far from here. Hopefully they’ll have rooms. If not, we can put up in their sitting room. They’re friendly, and, y’know, they’ll remember us from last time. It’s a shame you had to drop us off here again and not closer to home. We’ve no luggage or extra clothes.” She babbled on as she turned away.  
_

_Rose pressed her forehead to his cheek. “Last time. I don’t want to think about that.”_

_“Neither do I, but at least we get to touch this time.”_

_“Yeah, we do.” She shivered in his arms. The wind was picking up, wasn’t it?_

_“Best get a shift on indeed. We’ll deal with everything later.”_

_“Do you do that now?”_

_“What?"_

_"Deal with things.”_

_He shrugged. “I suppose I do. Comes with being part human.”_

_“I’ll hold you to it.”_

_“We’ll be alright, then?”_

_She pulled back to look at him. “Yeah. We will be.”_

_He grinned. “Good. Hello, by the way.”_

_She grinned right back, her eyes shining. “Hello.”_

_“We need to move. Jackie’s already nearly off the beach. Let’s go and get you out of the cold.”_

\--

The memory roused him from sleep. Not merely rousing his mind awake, but rousing his… oh, this body would be far more sensitive, wouldn’t it? Through a sleepy haze and reduced inhibition, he draped his arm over her, pressed himself to her side, and kissed her cheek. She’d never minded being woken like this before. What with not being able to shag last night, they were long overdue. Two year's linear time for him (more with time traveling), more for her.

_CRACK!_

“Oi!”

The reason for not being able to shag came rushing back, along with blinding pain where an elbow had collided with his nose.

\--

_“Bad news,” Jackie said. “There’s only one room. King bed, luckily. We can put up together so long as you two don’t get handsy. Save it for later.”_

_The Doctor’s blood drained from his face. “I… I can sleep on this sofa out here. It’s fine.”_

_“It’s not ideal, but you’re not sleeping on a sofa your first night here. What kind of welcome would that be to Pete’s World?”_

_“Are you alright with that, Rose?”_

_“Fine with me. Mum and I have shared plenty of times before. I just want a hot shower.”_

_He’d ignored the chill from the wind cutting right through his suit, but he did feel stiff from their ten-minute walk to the inn. “Me, too.”_

_“Not together, you’re not. I’m not having you embarrass the Tylers. You can wait for that til we get back to London in her flat.”_

\--

“Christ, Jackie! I think you broke it!” He held his nose, warm fluid coating his fingers.

“I’ll thank you kindly not to molest your mother-in-law! I told you to wait, didn’t I!”

“I’m the one who wanted the sofa!”

“What the hell is going on?” Rose’s voice cut through the chaos. She blinked as she took in the two of them, and then she giggled. And laughed.

Jackie rolled her eyes. She grabbed some tissues from a box on the nightstand to throw in his lap and left to hit the loo.

“Honestly, I thought she was you,” he said as she handed him one of the tissues.

She bit her lip. “Wanted a morning cuddle?”

“Or more.”

“I wouldn’t have complained.”

“You never did.”

“You really are him, aren’t you?”

“Look at that.” He pulled the tissue away from his nose. “Aside from my blood being red now and one human heart, I am him, yeah. He’s me. We’re the same man. The only memories I don’t have are what happened between my regenerating into me and when I stumbled onto the _Crucible.”_

“No more orange blood, huh.”

“No more temporal platelets. I really do have one life now.”

“How does that feel, O Great One with Superior Physiology, to become a member of the lesser species?”

“Like my nose is broken.” He groaned.

She giggled. “Let me see.” He winced as she gingerly touched it, but there weren’t any particular pain points. “Doesn’t feel broken, but she nailed you pretty good. She may be Head of Food Distribution at UNIT, but she’s taken self-defense classes like the rest of us.”

“Your mum, Head of Food Distribution?”

“Yes.”

“Your mum is a dinner lady.”

“Yes, she is.”

“UNIT? What happened to Torchwood?”

“President Harriet Jones combined them, believe it or not.”

 _“President_ Harriet Jones, you’re kidding. And there’s a UNIT in Pete’s World?”

“There’s a lot to catch you up on.”

“I used to work for them.”

“Back home?”

“Yes. Hold on, I need to clear this up. Your mother is a dinner lady?”

“Nothing wrong with being a dinner lady, you plum.” Jackie returned with a bag of ice. “I get to feed the people who save the world, including your Rose here. Completely iced out there, by the way. Pete can’t come get us until tomorrow, he says, because the zeppelins won’t run up here when the weather’s bad. He’ll bring Tony with him.”

He sighed in relief as Rose pressed the bag to his aching face. “I’ll take the sofa in the sitting room, then.”

“You’d better. I’m not having you molest me again.”

“I’m sorry, Jackie. It was an honest mistake.”

She glared at Rose’s fit of giggles. “Not a _word_ of this breathed to anyone, hear?”

“What happened in Norway stays in Norway?” she offered.

“It flipping does. Do you understand, Doctor?”

“Trust me, Jackie, I’d rather forget this ever happened.”

\--

He did sleep on the sofa, but in the middle of the night, a warm body climbed over his and snuggled up to him beneath the blanket. “Jackie?” he asked without opening his eyes.

“Yep. I enjoyed that cuddle with you so much I won’t be able to keep my hands to myself anymore.”

He smiled at Rose’s voice and held her tighter. “I can think of where I’d like you to put your hand.”

She brought her face close to his, and his lips tingled as her breath caressed them. “I’d love to, but not out here in the sitting room. If Dad’s hired a private zeppelin, they have rooms. The commercial ones are more like planes.”

“We’ll occupy the loo if that's the case.”

Her leg snaked over his hip. “Mum’ll kill us.”

“If I go out with you in a blaze of glory, it’ll have been worth it.”

“I missed this." Her voice wavered slightly. "So much.” 

“I missed you.” His hand found her cheek. “Nothing was the same after you left.”

“I know.”

“And you, you brilliant woman, you found me again.”

“I’ll always find you.” Her lips pressed to his.

\--

Two Christmases later (the first one being shortly after they’d settled in), Pete handed Jackie and the Doctor an envelope after Tony had gone to bed. “Open them at the same time, please.”

Jackie held up the paper within. “A round trip to Norway? For me? Why?”

“Me, too," said the Doctor. "What’s this, Rose?”

“You got one as well?” Jackie looked at him.

Pete cut in. “I thought you two could use a chance to reconnect before the festivities.”

 _“Bloody hell,_ Peter Alan Tyler!” She picked up a decorative pillow and threw it at him.

The Doctor said to Rose, “I didn’t tell him. Did you?”

“I didn’t.”

His jaw dropped. “Jackie, you told him, didn’t you? I can’t believe it. After all that murderous glaring, you hypocrite!”

“Jacks, wait!” Pete said between laughs. “That’s not the real gift.” He pulled another envelope from his robe. “Those tickets were fake. These are real, though. For the kids.”

The Doctor held them up. “Barcelona?”

“A little bird told me a long time ago you’d wanted to go there. You can’t reach the planet because the TARDIS isn’t ready yet, so I decided to do what I can to get you there. A wedding present of sorts. Happy honeymoon in a few months.”

“Oh, Dad,” Rose said, tears welling in her eyes. “Thank you.”

“Yes. Thank you, Pete,” the Doctor added, his own voice thick.

The man couldn’t answer because Jackie had pulled him into a snog.

“Come on, Rose, it’s about time for us to retire.”

Jackie pulled away from her husband. “Don’t you do _anything_ near Tony’s room!”


End file.
